| Author | Message | ||
     Debueller |
I'm gonna tough out a few hours at work this morning, then I'm leaving for a 11 day trip on my Uly with my brother on his KTM. We're leaving W WA and traveling to the north rim of the Grand Canyon in N AZ. We are staying at the Bar 10 ranch for 3 days of no pavement. From there we are going to travel to Death Valley via a 1 day stay in Vegas. After about 2-3 days exploring DV gravel and paved roads, we will head north through Reno, Virgina City, then home. The Uly is ready, I'm more than ready, and can't wait to live on my bike for the next 11 days. Should be enough to get me through the winter. (yea right) I'll post a short trip report when I get back. | ||
| Red_chili |
Godspeed! Sounds wonderful! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
YOU SUCK! Have a great trip. Be careful! | ||
| Etennuly |
#%**$%#!!!%$&&^^***gotta*%##*work*%#$#dam**%#it!!!  | ||
| Soloyosh |
Watch for ice... I was in Flagstaff/Sedona last weekend and there was ice in some of the corners on 89A. It was night time but still. | ||
| Daves |
Have fun! | ||
| Josh_cox |
Can you see my jealous eyes? Can you feel them peering into the screen?  I wish I could do that kind of riding now! Have a good time and be safe! | ||
| Lorazepam |
What fatty said. Watch out for deer, it is harvest, rut, and hunting season, and the deer will be nuts. Wish I was going. | ||
| Windrider |
Debueller you are living right! Where did I go wrong.... too much work, not enough ride time....... | ||
| Dmcutter |
I just got back from Flagstaff, did the Grand Canyon last Wednesday. My god, it was awesome. I had a Toyota Solara convertible, nice, but not quite the same as a bike. 60's during the day, 30's at night. I envy you, dude. | ||
| Ulendo |
no rest for the wicked, eh jerry? hopefully if you get local support, they dont drop their bike upside down in the rocks like I did !!  ride safe, have fun | ||
| Debueller |
I'm back! First off we had our share of problems. Arrived in Saint George UT on Fri eve the 13th. (Great omen huh?). Sat morn we headed out to the Bar 10 ranch after a huge amount of rain fri night. About 20 miles into a 80 mile dirt road (at Wolf hole valley) we ran into mud from hell. My bro went down at about 20 mph. Then as I was riding up to him to help, down I went at about 5 mph. His left bag was torn off and laying about 15 feet away. My bike was OK and we were both OK. After lashing his bag back on with rope, we continued. About 100 yards he was down again, this time on the other side and tearing off his other bag. We lashed it on as well. After stopping and trying to figure what the problem was we discovered that the mud was so gooey that it was clogging up in our front fenders and stopping the wheel from turning, hence the sudden crashes. I removed my front fender, but he couldn't because the brake line to the left caliper travels over the front fender from the right caliper. We decided to turn around, and upon further inspection of the Uly I noticed mud oozing out through the openings around the countershaft cover. The drive belt was pulling huge amounts of mud into the pulleys !! I removed the countershaft cover and it was PACKED with mud. I also removed the lower belt guard to allow the belt to expell mud as it injested it. There was no cleaning it out, there was mud everywhere. As cooked our clutches trying to get out of there, we and our bikes were being weighted down with huge amounts of gooey mud. Then David went down a third time, this time the fender was so packed with mud it tore the bolt holes out of the fender and bound the fender and brake line tightly against the front tire stopping any rotation at all. We removed the brake line and switched the banjo bolts and rigged up one front brake. Speaking of front brakes, my ZTL brake pulled so much mud into it that the first time I used it when we hit solid ground I had to pump it up. There was so much mud that it pushed the pads away from the rotor and opened up the calipers. Then I felt my drive belt slipping. (it sounded really harsh!!) Mud had dried in the pulleys and filled the teeth with dried mud. I then spent 1/2 hr chipping plaster type mud with a screwdriver from the teeth. Back in town we found a car wash and washed about 50 lbs of mud from our bikes and off each other (thankfully we wore raingear!!) We then got a motel so we could patch up our bikes, then rest so we could try it again tommorrow. The next day the mud was almost as bad, so we turned around before we even got to Wolf Hole Canyon. We never got to the Bar 10...we had been beaten. The next two days we toured Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, and the Las Vegas strip. Then we went to Death Valley. Had an AWESOME time riding Dantes view, Titus Canyon, among others. Stove pipe wells motel resort was great. Then the KTM started acting up. It was using coolant. The seal under the water pump needed replacement. Luckily, David had one with him, along with all the tools to do the job. About 2 hours in the motel parking lot and the job was done. We then went to Reno where the oil filter started to clog due to the contaminated oil. Lots of rattling and a flickering oil light was the result. He decided to iron butt it home because it only acted up in the morn when the oil was cold. about 800 miles. I stayed another day and toured Reno, Virgina City and even visited the Mustang Ranch. (I only had a beer there, right?) The ride only went 9 days for me, we had other minor problems I haven't even mentioned, but it was still great fun. Just over 3400 miles. One more thing....Half way home the KTM's filter clogged completly. David removed it next to I-5 and tossed in the ditch, and rode it home. David needs to do lot's of fixin' on his KTM before he can ride it again. (some of the damage was inflicted by the rider) My Uly, on the other hand, could probally do another 3400 miles right now. But I think I'll replace the belt, do an oil change, and do some other assorted mechincal primping on her. She deserves it. She's been good to me. Some times I'm not so good to her. I know this is a little long winded, but alot happened. I'm also sorry there are no photos, I have not yet learned to post them. Jerry | ||
| Brad1445 |
Glad you are safe and sound and can't wait to see these photos. If you want to email to me I will post for you, if thats any easier. | ||
| Windrider |
Debueller, Hey, great to hear you made it back! Mud kills the big DS bikes. All of them! Anyone who says different hasn't been in a lot of mud on a big DS bike. If you want to ride it mud you need a light bike with big knobbies. Cheap is also good because they all go down in the mud and the pretty bits break off. Sounds like the Buell is holding up better than the KTM to Dual Sport riding! This is funny because most would say it should be the other way around. I was looking at the KTM at the same time as the Buell but the KTM seemed to have more reliability problems to me and it also seemed a lot more difficult to wrench on. If you want, feel free to email some pics to me (you should have my address from when I sent you the Idaho Pics) and I will post them for you. Sounds like you might have some memorable shots that the world of BadWeb should see! Good to hear you made it safe. Happy Trails, WindRider | ||
| Blake |
Great trip report! I gotta see your pics of the mud encased bikes.  Thanks for taking time to share your adventure. | ||
| Debueller |
OK everyone. I have been trying to learn how to load pic's on the web. I'm really struggling. But here's one from our trip. I've got lot's more, but I'm going to need some practice.  This photo was taken where I had picked my Uly up from a fall. Note the amount of mud in the front fender halting front tire rotation. Maybe a canidate for the muddiest Uly? | ||
| Handyhiker |
This is a great story and a true test as to what these bikes will do. |
